Spending on small cells is expected to cross $4 billion annually by the end of 2020, according to SNS Research — driven by the demand for in-building wireless coverage and growth in mobile data traffic.
SNS Research estimates that spending on small cells will reach more than $3 billion by the end of 2017.
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Mobile operators rely heavily on small cells for indoor coverage enhancement, network densification and rural connectivity. The small cell market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 10 percent between 2017 and 2020, eventually accounting for $4.3 billion in annual spending.
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Telecom operators believe that conventional macrocells are not sufficient to handle the needs of today’s wireless subscribers. GSMA estimates that the world has 5 billion unique phone subscribers on mobile network.
The above statistics on small cell is prepared by Mobile Experts.
In addition, the imminent adoption of centimeter and millimeter wave spectrum, to support higher data rates in 5G networks, necessitates the usage of much smaller cell sizes.
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Mobile operators in order to manage growing capacity and coverage requirements, are increasing their investments in a variety of Heterogeneous Network or HetNet infrastructure technologies such as strategically deployed small cells, carrier Wi-Fi and DAS networks.
Telecom operators are considering small cells as a preferred option due to their low cost, ease of integration, and flexibility to support both indoor and outdoor applications.
The report said besides standalone femtocell, picocell and microcell platforms, small cells are also beginning to be deployed in a C-RAN architecture to leverage the benefits of resource pooling and multi-cell coordination.
CommScope’s OneCell, SpiderCloud’s E-RAN, Ericsson’s Radio Dot, and Huawei’s LampSite are some of the leading small cell solutions.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
